Van Beek is the show’s executive producer alongside Australian Julie De Fina. The pair developed and wrote the show together and directing the series are Griffin, van Beek and Aussie Christiaan Van Vuuren.
This week, Van Beek told her Instagram followers about developing the show over nearly two years with the “magnificent” De Fina.
“Thirteen versions of The Office exist around the world with this being the FIRST to put a female in the lead!” wrote van Beek.
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“I took the job because I was OUTRAGED it hadn’t happened sooner, and I love The Office because I’m obsessed with mockumentary.
“I knew that we would find a comedian to smash it out of the park and that’s exactly what Felicity Ward has done.”
In the Australian version, the office boss role made famous by Ricky Gervais in the UK and Steve Carell in the US is played by Aussie comedic actor Felicity Ward, as Hannah Howard, the managing director of packaging company Finley Craddick.
Felicity Ward will play Hannah Howard in the Australian remake of The Office. Photo / Prime Video
Of the 12 core cast members of the show, four are New Zealanders.
Aotearoa talents Edith Poor, Josh Thomson, Jonny Brugh and Lucy Schmidt are sure to make an impression.
Ward recently starred in Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s Time Bandits alongside Thomson and Brugh, who were both also in the hit Kiwi mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows.
Brugh was a co-creator of Educators alongside van Beek and Griffin.
The Office Australia, which filmed in Sydney last year, is sure to be laugh-out-loud funny and great things are also expected from Poor, who has starred in a string of New Zealand-filmed movies and television series including The Power of the Dog and Mean Mums.
The Australian version of The Office launches on Prime Video October 18.
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Ricardo Simich is the Herald’s Spy Editor. Based in Auckland he covers all roads that lead to popular culture.
